Medan Pasar Brings Quintessential Malaysian Cuisine to the East Village | Eater NY

"When I strolled into Medan Pasar, named after the historic market square adjacent to Kuala Lumpur’s Chinatown, a few days after it opened late last year, the first thing I noticed on the menu were saucer-sized prawn fritters called cucur udang: three large, shell-on shrimp embedded like gems in a shiny golden fritter that, once bitten, proved wonderfully oily and chewy inside—gladsome as pound cake—with an umami-laden dipping sauce; they cost only $6 for two and felt like an ecstatic surprise after I’d been trekking to an Indonesian bodega in Elmhurst to get them. The owners and co-chefs, Chao Chen and Chuan Tan, who previously operated restaurants in New Brunswick, have delivered a deep, narrow cafe that feels less like a destination and more like a plain neighborhood joint: an eating shelf, a row of tables, a counter, and a giant touch-screen ordering contraption on the wall that lets you modify dishes (at your peril), while most customers order remotely and pick up carryout as an outdoor space is being built. The foreshortened menu of about 15 quintessential Malaysian (and sometimes Indonesian) dishes still offers unexpected delights: the must-order nasi lemak (choose chicken curry $8.50 or beef rendang $9.50) piles roasted peanuts, dried anchovies, sliced cucumber, a fried egg, and sambal alongside the rice; the beef rendang—chunks of beef boiled in coconut milk to an almost sludge-like consistency—is the better choice and warrants the “extra spicy” option; rojak ($7) is a chunky composed salad of mango, pineapple, jicama, fermented shrimp paste, crushed peanuts and dense pressed tofu with shrimp chips; and the sole dessert, bubur cha cha ($6), is a bubble-tea–adjacent doozy of white sweet potato, purple potato, orange yam, tapioca pearls, brown cane syrup and pandan boiled in coconut milk to near-porridge and served in a 24-ounce glass, chewy and sweet enough to conjure a Kuala Lumpur market square or the Chinatown of a couple decades ago." - Robert Sietsema